Deadpool was my favorite movie of 2016. I saw the movie on a recommendation and really didn’t know what to expect. But from the first moment of the intro with Angel of the Morning playing over the comedic version of the credits revolving around a freeze-framed photo of a hyperkinetic centrifugal multi-villain murdering automobile rollover I knew it was gonna be great. Now granted, Deadpool viewing does come with some penalties. Deadpool is a fan of Wham and George Michael in general. This is painful. The end credits roles through an entire Wham song. So, you take the good with the bad.

I went to see Deadpool 2 today. I won’t put in any spoilers. In the latest installment Deadpool puts together a team that he calls X-Force because he says X-Men is too sexist. He faces off against Josh Brolin as a time travelling mercenary called Cable who sports a bionic arm. And the scene where they first deploy as a team is hysterically funny. Negasonic Teenage Warhead is back but this time with hair and a Japanese girlfriend. Colossus is also back and even develops a little edge by the end of the movie. And Morena Baccarin and Leslie Uggams and that doofus from Silicon Valley are back too. And once again Wade Wilson is plunged into despair. And that means he will be employing barrels full of ultra-violence and mayhem will rain down on his enemies and of course also hilariously on his unkillable self. There is a scene where Deadpool is regenerating his lower body that is truly disturbing and symptomatic of some psychotic issues among the writers. And there is plenty of truly horrendous schmaltzy music. But Deadpool keeps the terrible sight gags and banter flowing throughout the show. And there are even a few scenes of tenderness and love. And unlike the terrible unhappy ending of Avengers: Infinity War, if you stick around during the credits there’s a bonus that sets some things straight.

Deadpool is a guilty pleasure. He is obscene, sacrilegious, depraved and extremely gross. But it cannot be denied that he is funny. And in our increasingly humorless politically correct environment that alone should be enough to justify the time spent.

Best Science Fiction Novel
Somewhither: A Tale of the Unwithering Realm by John C. Wright

Best Fantasy Novel
Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia

Best Young Adult/Middle Grade Novel
The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett

Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel
Hell’s Foundations Quiver by David Weber

Best Alternate History Novel
League of Dragons by Naomi Novak

Best Apocalyptic Novel
Ctrl Alt Revolt! by Nick Cole

Best Horror Novel
Souldancer by Brian Niemeier

Best Comic Book
Ms. Marvel

Best Graphic Novel
The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series
Game of Thrones – HBO

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie
The Martian

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC/Console Game
Fallout 4 by Bethesda Softworks

Best Science Fiction of Fantasy Mobile Game
Fallout Shelter by Bethesda Softworks

Best Science Fiction of Fantasy Board Game
Pandemic: Legacy by ZMan Games

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures/Collectible Card/Role Playing Game
Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game (7th edition) by Chaosium Inc.

So what do I think? Great!!!

What’s not to love? Oh sure, I have to disagree with picking The Martian over Deadpool for best movie, but you know, it’s just the movies and movies are for kids anyway.

So good for the Dragon Con folks for finally making SF&F great again

Some people are saying that the Dragons are to the People’s Choice Awards as the Hugos are to the Oscars. I guess that’s supposed to be a put-down of the Dragons. But I’ll take that analogy. Have you seen the Oscars lately? Every movie they award and most of the movies they nominate suck

You can do a lot worse than let people pick what they like. At least it gives you a good indication of what they’re willing to spend their money on. And that’s good news for the winners. When a Con that musters 60,000 participants runs an award that can really put a lot of eyeballs on the results. And that’s especially good for the newcomers and the smaller categories. Excellent.

Congratulations to all of them.

But of course a bonus feature of the Dragons is who hates the results. All the familiar cast of characters. The Puppy-kickers one and all. But happily they’re not gloating. They’re exhibiting all the familiar characteristics of angry SJWs. The three laws in full effect. Their pets didn’t win. Fraud, ballot box stuffing, skullduggery and possibly even flimflammerry! Larry Correia! Vox Day! Puppies!!!

The administrators must be questioned and found guilty of serious offenses. Pressure must be brought to bear on them to confess their sins and cleanse the awards of its populist taint. Special Snowflake Fairy Dust must immediately be power sprayed onto the contest so that next year the requisite number of special categories will fill the winner’s circle with socially just empowerment. They’re not following The Narrative! Attention must be paid!!!

Or something like that. Anyway, bravo Dragon winners. Well done. All in all, a nice holiday weekend treat.

So, I’m not a comic book guy. I don’t have a dog in DC vs Marvel. I despise the X-Men. It seems to be some thinly disguised stand-in for every grievance group’s revenge wet dream (OUR SPECIALNESS IS OUR SUPER POWER!!!). Iron Man and Captain America have been fun. But it’s only a matter of time until Joss Whedon consigns them to gender re-assignment surgery and makes them a lesbian couple. Now they’ve even ruined Batman and Superman. All they do is whine and brood about how tough it is to be invulnerable or a billionaire. Wow.

So it is with great joy that I announce that there is at least one super hero who is having fun. Dead Pool. I’d never heard of him before this movie (remember, not a comic book guy). I heard some good word of mouth from friends so I was hopeful. But other than the fact that it wasn’t for kids I didn’t know exactly what to expect. Being hopelessly old, I rented the DVD from what used to be called Netflix and last night I watched it.

I’ll say from the very opening scene (which includes some very amusing credits) right up to the final credits it entertains the hell out of you. It’s funny, obscene, funny, violent, funny, clever and just plain funny. All the major characters and even some pretty minor ones are excellent. The action scenes are well done and exciting. The dialog is outstanding. The plot is pretty much the usual meaningless super-hero origin story but Dead Pool hasn’t decided that his suffering will elevate him to a noble avenger. He’s just a really pissed off jerk bent on revenge. It’s perfect.

His attitude toward everyone (good, bad or just bystander) is the same, “I’m gonna do some really dangerous stuff to kill a lot of people I really don’t like. Sorry I didn’t warn everyone else but I really don’t care because I’m basically a selfish jerk.” It’s wonderful.

One of the best features of the character is his constant mockery of movie conventions. At a certain point Dead Pool (played hilariously by Ryan Reynolds) recruits two X-Men characters to help him save his girl (portrayed by the still incredibly hot Firefly alumna, Morena Baccarin). But he does it with as little grace and gratitude as humanly possible. One of the X-Men characters is named ( I kid you not) Negasonic Teen Warhead and is a rather short girl with a slightly stubbly shaved head. Sort of the epitome of the surly teen girl super hero. He mocks her incessantly sometimes pretending she’s Sinead O’Connor. Then he taunts her thus, “Look! I’m a teenage girl! I’d rather be anywhere than here! I’m all about long, sullen silences, followed by mean comments, followed by more silences. So what’s it gonna be? Long, sullen silence or mean comment? Go on.” This may be the most refreshing thing I’ve seen in a sci-fi movie in twenty years.

All in all a first rate comic book movie presentation. Long live Dead Pool. I just wonder if a sequel is possible.